Numerous designs of devices to dampen vibrations are known in the prior art. Depending on the type of damping employed, these are based on mechanical damping, especially friction damping, or hydraulic damping, or a combination of types of damping such as mechanical and hydraulic. In the case of mechanical damping devices, the torque is transmitted and the damping is coupled by means of spring units, especially in the form of arc springs or coil springs that are between the primary part and secondary part and alternately support them, and by means of which the peripheral rotatability is generated by applying and changing the pretension. The level of transmittable torque and the level of possible damping greatly depend on the number and dimensions of these spring units. In particular, the windup angle between the primary part and secondary part cannot be substantially increased without correspondingly designing the spring units which, however, may necessitate substantially increasing the required construction space in certain circumstances. In addition, the spring units dictate a specific damper characteristic.
So-called ramp dampers are therefore frequently used as for example known from DE 196 26 685. With these, the rotation of the primary part in relation to the secondary part is generated by peripheral ramps rising in an axial direction with intermediate rolling elements, especially balls, and one part is axially displaced in relation to the other part, especially the primary part in relation to the secondary part, and the primary part abuts a spring unit. By means of this displacement, corresponding damping is generated when the balls contact the corresponding elements on either side.
Other ramp damping arrangements are in particular described in DE 100 17 688 A1. This discloses numerous devices for damping vibrations in the form of so-called ramp dampers in which a spring element is provided for the sake of simplification that has a spring leaf, and that interacts with a least one rolling element in a first contact area. In a second contact area opposite the first contact area of the spring leaf, the rolling body acts against a stop. The stop and spring leaf are movably mounted relative to each other. The spring leaf is bent during such a relative movement. The entire spring element can therefore be assembled from a few components that are extremely economical to manufacture. The spring element can be created within a small, axial envelope, and it can be combined with a wide range of damping devices. As mentioned, the individual rolling elements are guided in peripheral recesses that are characterized by different axial slopes.
Another damping device is known from DE 33 33 536, which is combined with a conventional damping device, and is additionally provided with a friction device axially arranged between itself and the flange, which consists of an axially acting spring device with a tongue design for a nonrotating connection, and an axially adjacent friction plate that is nonrotatably connected with the neighboring parts (flange and side plates), wherein the spring device is designed as a wavy, axially curved flat-form spring to generate a windup angle-dependent axial application of spring pressure, said flat-form spring abutting the friction plate with axially rising surfaces, and the spring device having a closed annular wave spring with a plurality of waves, wherein the shape of the surface of the friction plate facing the wave spring corresponds to the waviness of the abutting wave spring. The tongue design for the nonrotating connection of the wave spring within the inner perimeter of the flange is characterized by an axially curved tongue that nonrotatably engages in a window for a torsional spring.
Embodiments of devices for damping vibrations with arc springs or spiral springs are characterized in that the windup angle is relatively limited. Embodiments in ramp form are limited by the peripheral extension of the ramp and their dimensions.